RE: Reading the tea leaves: a new era for public lands?
The federal government doesn't 'take control of lands' unless it is given to them by donation or trade. It then charges user fees to use it rather than just having ALL taxpayers foot the bill. Yes, it would be nice if it was free, but someone has to pay for the ranger, police, roads, etc. that exist on the federal land in use. Wanting it free and wanting lower taxes just isn't feasible.
Yes, the Fed controls the land it owns. However, the alternative for all those beautiful lakes is that they are in private hands - you can bet your butt you would either loose access altogether or have to pay exorbitant fees to use it. At least then you might see capital improvements but would you be willing to pay the fees for them?
The feds are "we the people" and chances are, if they shrink any recreation areas, it is because the people who used them abused them. If people took care of their natural resource areas like they do their own homes (wait, maybe they do), more money wouldn't be needed to repair and maintain those places and higher fees wouldn't be imposed to discourage people from visiting.
I think public demand and expectation is out of control. Many seem to want what they want when and how they want it. They want to be catered to but 'no way' do they want to pay for it. I find it amusing that someone could, in the same breath, complain both about fees and lack of amenities that suit them.
What do I think will happen? Well, I know that things in government move slowly so I am spending this year touring much of the west - it many not be available to me the year after. I am concentrating on Forest Service and BLM sites in particular - those are the most vulnerable.

RE: refrigerator does not cool while driving
We have the RM1350. It works on 120V or on gas.
When driving, we run the fridge on gas. FYI, when the vehicle engine is switched OFF in Auto mode, the fridge will automatically turn off for 15 minutes. This is a safety feature to ensure that propane is not running while fueling (the fear is that gas fumes may get into the vented area and ignite). So, running your RM1350 while on the road is safe as long as Auto mode (not Gas mode) is engaged. This is called "Temporary Gas Lockout and can be found in the manual.
During the summer, the fridge runs warmer while driving than while sitting and can get up to 38 degrees. During the winter, this is not the case and we typically see no rise in temp.

RE: gas at truck stops
Pilot/Flying J has an app. One can pull up the information on stations (from a map) that includes if there are RV pumps, RV parking, a dump station, and propane.
Love's and T/A also have apps but they tend not to have RV pumps.
We typically use google maps to get an eagle-eye view of stations along our route. We put in our route then use the "search along route" to find truck stops. Once we find them we look at them in satellite view to see how tight they are.
When we pre-plan we rarely have an issue (with 2.75 years of fulltiming).

RE: replacing the sofa bed in living area motorhome
Ikea has come out with some new sectionals. Some have beds, some have storage, some have neither. We are going to swap out our current L shaped RV couch for storage sections and an ottoman. There are about 5 different models and each model has various types of seating. We are getting the Vallentula; there is also Soderhahm (very comfortable), Kivik, and Landskrona. They also have sleeper sofas. A lot of their sofas and sectionals have removable and washable covers.

RE: Small inverter or 12 volt tv?
we power our 32" Sony using a 300W pure sine inverter on an rv 12v plug without problem unless the batteries are below 12.2V. It could be that your modified sine wave inverter is cheaply made and pulls way more load than normal.

RE: Solar & lithium installers?
Here is a full-timer's 4-part series of solar/lithium installation and in it she mentions the installer.
http://wheelingit.us/2016/02/24/the-big-beastly-solarbattery-upgrade-part-i-why/
We also had Marv do our solar. Great guy and great work. He usually spends part of the winter in Casa Grande, AZ.

RE: Gas or electric
On 30 Amp, gas. On 50 Amp, electric. Because on 30 Amp, if I use things like A/C and/or microwave I may trip the breaker and it is a pain to reset it. On 50 Amp, I don't have that problem. Exception: if it is the perfect temp outside and I know I won't need heat or a/c.

RE: Slide is marking the floor
On my 2008 Komfort TT I'm starting to get a worn spot on the floor where the leading edge of the slide floor stops when in. Has anyone seen this before and found a solution?
Is the mark only where the slide edge sits when fully in? If so, it could be from the slide bouncing while under way when hitting potholes and the like.
If the mark is a scuff from the slide opening and closing, then an adjustment may help.
Our last tt eventually had both, in different places.

RE: mail foward & ID's
We used our Good Sam mail address for our licenses, registrations, insurance, and bank accounts. It has been 2-1/2 years and we have had no problem. We sold our s&b two years ago after renting it out for six months. Life is much easier without the s&b and the transition was easy because we already had everything changed over.

RE: Demand Water Pump - dumb question
When the shore water pressure is low and our water pump is turned on, the water pump will try to raise the pressure by pumping more water. The water comes from the on board tank. If there is no water in the tank, the water pump will still run to try to improve the pressure. We always keep water in our on board tank so the pump increases the water pressure in low pressure situations (like the one we had yesterday).

RE: Time for new satellite antenna?
DISH Network does not offer free HD. It cost $10 extra unless you have auto pay billing option with a credit card on file or you were grandfathered in when they were offering free HD for life for a short period of time.
X2.
I have a line item on my bill for HD.

RE: How many of you use solar?
"Why or why not do you use solar on your RV?"
We are 'parking lot boondocking' (at a casino) in upstate New York right now. Last night, we watched a few hours of television then got up this morning and made coffee and are watching Sunday news shows. We never once ran our generator though both our neighbors did. It is currently 11AM and we are putting 22AH into our batteries. They will be full by 4PM if we stay here again tonight. We didn't have generator restrictions here (obviously) but often park in places where we do. The solar panels allow us to maintain our typical daily routine regardless of where we are parked. That is why we have it.
Yes, we try not to park under trees and on rainy days we don't fill our batteries. But, overall, in 2.5 years of full-timing, we have recovered more than half the cost of the solar panels in savings of campground fees and gas. The quiet itself is priceless. We have 600W of solar and 440AH of 6V AGMs.

RE: Beach boondocking on the mid-east coast
If you don't mind over-nighting in a parking lot, the Oregon Inlet Boat Ramp may be just what you are looking for. We over-nighted there a few years back with no problems. The Oregon Inlet Campground is right next door.

RE: INVERTER SELECTION HELP?
My Wagan 400W Elite came with clips to connect directly to the battery. It ran fine up to 100W using a car plug but screamed over that due to the wiring, not the inverter itself. Chances are the wire at your plug is entirely too small to pull enough amps. Any inverter you buy will have the same problem.
In our tt, we had two outlets: one that came off of a radio wire (long distance and small) and one that came directly off the converter (short distance and large). We could barely pull 100W off the radio wire without an alarm but had no problem with 200W off the converter wire. YMMV

RE: Arizona State parks
Defintely plan on a few different locations.
Dead Horse Ranch State Park is a good place to stay to see Jerome and Sedona.
Lost Dutchman State Park or Usery Mountain Regional Park are great for the Phoenix area.
Catalina State Park is good for Tucson.
Kartchner Caverns is close to Tombstone and a day trip to Bisbee.
Not to miss: Big Bend National Park in Texas
City of Rocks State Park in New Mexico.

RE: Virginia City Montana
Here is my review of Virginia City RV Park on our blog:
We decided to stop at Virginia City RV Park, a full service park with Passport America rates. It was halfway up a giant hill just past the town and had a great view over the valley. Unfortunately, when we got there, we were told all their "Passport" spots were taken! There were only two other RVs in the park at the time. I would have just kept going. Ennis has some sites on the lake or on the Madison River (Montana Fishing Access Sites) and a couple of RV Parks but Mike wanted to stay (we needed a good flush and some water). So we did, but I grumbled about false advertising and such. Some of the sites were tight, some were unlevel, but most had a decent view in one direction or another. There was some highway noise when trucks would try to make it up the hill but for the most part, it was a clean, well taken care of, campground. A little over priced but what can you do...

RE: Beware Winegard Trav'ler if you want HD in Northeast
We spent the last three months in New England, going as far northeast as Jonesport, ME. We used the western arc (110, 119, 129) except in a couple of campsites where trees were in the way; we manually tuned into 61 or 72. I think maybe twice over the summer we were unable to get HD (129) but that was due to trees.
If you can't get 129, try to 'manually' get 61. Often, manually tuning in to 61 also gets me 72. Good luck!

RE: Zoning that restricts RV use on your own land
So sad, government sometimes controls too much.
Its not 'the government.' Its people. People like to get angry about things, usually insignificant things. So they complain about everything they don't like and politicians get tired of the complaining. So the locals vote in a new ordinance. And then they get to go around and search for people to rat out.
I had a neighbor that did that. He really liked controlling everyone else's lives. I'm so glad I don't live there any longer and I hope the people that bought my house are giving him hell.